Game of the Week #746: Xiong vs Liang

by Merijn van Delft
11/3/2026 – The USA Championship was super strong with 12 top grandmasters participating, and only Nakamura/Dominguez missing. A key role was played by 16-year-old Andy Woodward, who impressively beat Caruana, but lost to So. In the final round Caruana caught up with So, but in the rapid tiebreak Wesley So was crowned the winner. From many fascinating games we selected the encounter between Xiong and Liang as our Game of the Week, because of its highly surprising plot twist. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Game of the Week #746

The USA Championship was super strong with 12 top grandmasters participating, and only Nakamura/Dominguez missing. A key role was played by 16-year-old Andy Woodward, who impressively beat Caruana, but lost to So. In the final round Caruana caught up with So, but in the rapid tiebreak Wesley So was crowned the winner. From many fascinating games we selected the encounter between Xiong and Liang as our Game of the Week, because of its highly surprising plot twist.

Warming-up question: What would you play here with White?
 

This week's show

Besides covering all the critical lines after 1.d4 & 2.c4, popular systems such as the Trompovsky, London/Jobava System, Torre Attack, Colle System and Veresov are dealt with as well.

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Topics: The Game of the Week, Training and improvement
Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.
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See also

Game of the Week #745: Giri vs Abdusattorov

10/28/2026 – The 41st edition of the European Club Cup in Budva (Montenegro) was won by Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club from Turkey. Board one Anish Giri actually had a rough ride, losing his black games against Indian rising stars Pranav and Pranesh. But in such events it is the last round that counts and there the Dutchman delivered with a marvelous game against world number five Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The patterns were unusual, which is perfect for a Game of the Week. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
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Game of the Week #744: Maris vs Ritzerveld

10/27/2026 – The traditional open tournament in Hoogeveen in the Netherlands is led by 14-year-old FM Noah Ritzerveld with 6 out of 7 with two rounds to go. In round 8 he will face his Apeldoorn teammate GM Thomas Beerdsen who is trailing by half a point. Our Game of the Week is Noah's fifth round encounter with the creative and adventurous FM Ivo Maris. Both sides were going all out for the win and eventually it was a magical move and its associated concept that won Black the game. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.

Video

60m English surprising_your_opponents_with_the_lazy_sicilian

In just 60 minutes, you will be well-equipped with a surprise weapon, which will take most of your opponents out of book right from the start.